Thursday, February 24
Steamboat Springs, Colo.
All Day
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Photo by: Evan Wang
Dilling Leads Buffs At Second Day Of RMISA Championships
February 24, 2022 | Skiing
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.—Freshman Jacob Dilling placed fifth in the men's slalom race and the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team slipped to fourth place here at Howelsen Hill after day two of the RMISA Championships, which triple as the NCAA West Regional and the CU Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational.
Dilling's fifth place finish was one of the bright spots for the Buffs on an otherwise rough day of skiing. He sat in seventh place after the first run and moved up two spots after putting down the fifth-fastest second run of the day. It was his second-best slalom finish of the season and second top five performance in the discipline this season.CU was without Filip Forejtek, who is taking the next few days off to rest up and prepare for the NCAA Championships in a few weeks. Bobby Ryan was the Buffs next best finisher on the men's side in 18th place.
On the women's side, the Buffs top finisher was senior Kaitlyn Harsch, who had the second-fastest second run and finished 13th. Elena Exenberger also had a top 20 finish on the women's side in 18th place. Freshman Magdalena Luczak was on her way to a solid finish in her first collegiate slalom but fell on her first run just a few gates from the finish and had to hike.
The Buffs, third entering the day by just a half-point, slipped one position to fourth and finish the alpine portion of the meet with 241.5 points. Utah holds a slip six-point advantage over Westminster, 334-328, and Denver is third with 288 points. Behind the Buffs is Montana State with 233 points.
WHAT IT MEANS: For coaches, the RMISA Championships and NCAA Regionals are as much about giving seniors a fond farewell and getting the team ready for the NCAA Championships as anything else. While it's always nice to win, it's not the end goal. Looking from that lens, the Buffs accomplished some necessary steps in that progression today. Harsch had a fantastic second run as a senior, Luczak got an all-important start in a slalom race, which is needed for her push to compete at the NCAA Championships, and Dilling improved his slalom placement by a few points, which is huge for the NCAA Championships.
UP NEXT: The alpine portion of the RMISA Championships, NCAA West Regional and Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational are now complete, but the alpine skiers are far from done competing in Steamboat. The teams will have an extra slalom qualifier Friday and then compete in a parallel slalom exhibition on Saturday. Meanwhile the Nordic teams pick up the action as part of the RMISA Championships Friday with a 5K women's and 10K men's freestyle races. They will close out the meet on Saturday with the 15K women's and 20K men's classic races.
TEAM NOTES:
- The Buffs scored 103 points on the day, 53 in the men's race and 50 in the women's race, and sit in fourth place with 241.5 points.
- In the men's race, Dilling scored 29 points for his fifth place finish while Alex Birkner (14) and Max Bervy (10) were the other two CU scorers.
- In the women's race, Harsch led the way with 19 points for her 13th place finish with Exenberger scoring 17 points and Emma Hammergaard 14.
- Kaitlyn Harsch placed 13th, matching her second best finish of the season and her fourth top 20 of the season, and third straight. She now has 40 race starts in her career and has finished 33 of them with 22 in the top 20.
- Elena Exenberger placed 17th, picking up yet another top 20 performance in her freshman season. She has finished in the top 20 in all nine races she's finished this season, with seven of those eight finishes coming between 12th and 17th place.
- Emma Hammergaard placed 24th and Magdalena Luczak placed 31st in her first collegiate slalom race. She had to hike on her first run just before the finish and needed to finish for NCAA Qualification purposes, so hiking was her only option. Getting the race result was important for her and the team.
- Jacob Dilling placed fifth, his second best slalom finish of the season and third top five performance of the campaign. He's finished in the top 10 in nine of 11 races so far this season.
- Bobby Ryan placed 18th, his second top 20 slalom performance of the season and one off his season best of 17th at the Utah Invitational.
- Alex Birkner placed 22nd, Max Bervy placed 29th, Joey Young took 32nd and Louis Fausa didn't finish his second run.
WOMEN'S SLALOM (31 collegiate finishers): 1. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:25.24; 2. Kristiane Bekkestad, MSU, 1:25.63; 3. Katie Vesterstein, UU, 1:26.23; 4. Eleri Smart, DU, 1:26.26; 5. Eveline Fredricsson, WMC & Katie Parker, UU, 1:26.38; 7. Hannah Saethereng, WMC, 1:26.75; 8. Sinsley Proffit, CMC, 1:26.77; 9. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:27.00; 10. Galena Wardle, DU, 1:27.19. CU Finishers: 13. Kaitlyn Harsch, 1:27.33; 17. Elena Exenberger, 1:28.03; 24. Emma Hammergaard, 1:29.48; 31. Magdalena Luczak, 1:58.11.
MEN'S SLALOM (35 collegiate finishers): 1. Francesco Gori, WMC, 1:18.38; 2. Mikkel Solbakken, 1:18.50; 3. Gustav Vollo, UU, 1:18.79; 4. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:19.00; 5. Jacob Dilling, CU, 1:19.29; 6. Leon Nikic, UAA, 1:19.38; 7. Simon Fournier, DU, 1:19.59; 8. Tobias Kogler, DU, 1:19.65; 9. Henry Heaydon, MSU, 1:19.66; 10. Joachim Lein, UU, 1:19.89. Other CU Finishers: 18. Bobby Ryan, 1:21.02; 22. Alex Birkner, 1:21.19; 28. Max Bervy, 1:25.18; 29. Chase Seymour, 1:26.10; 32. Joey Young, 1:27.58. Did Not Finish Second Run: Louis Fausa.
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